Im a hypocrite and I dont care

Diane Abbott decided she had to send her son to private school despite the devastating effect on her left-wing firebrand credentials

Many people were shocked when they learnt that I had decided to send my son James, 12, to a private school. But, in some ways, nobody was more surprised than me. I admit that anything I say is hypocritical and that I am defending the indefensible, but I wanted to explain why I took the decision I did.

If you had told me 10 years ago that I would do such a thing I would not have believed you. For many socialists, public versus private education is a defining issue of principle. Labour supporters, who otherwise have all the trappings of an upper-middle-class lifestyle, go to elaborate lengths to send their children to state schools.

It has become a conscience issue. When Harriet Harman chose to send her son to an opted-out grammar school a few years ago I was supposed to have said that she “made the Labour party